


sin problemas ni orgullo

by mollivanders



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 11:50:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10464246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: “Will you teach me?” she asks one night, half-asleep as his fingers play lazy patterns on her back. His hand stills against her and he shifts, looking down at her.“Teach you what, mi amor?”“That,” she answers sleepily. She has figured out by now that it is an endearment of some kind, one that he only uses when they are alone. “Your language.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> I received an anon message on Tumblr about Cassian talking to Jyn in Festian and then I spiraled into this. The title comes from Pablo Neruda's Sonnet XVII. Like Jyn, I am not a native speaker and earnmysong and patsywalker both graciously beta'd this work. All errors remain my own.
> 
> Update: morrigan_le_fae kindly wrote a translation of this into Spanish and Nahuatl, [atle tecuezoh huan noh nepoaliztli](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10558602)!

Between Saw’s partisans and living on the run, Jyn has picked up her fair share of languages. Living on the ragged edge of the galaxy, she needed to be able to haggle and barter in more than just Common. Among the partisans and criminals, she’d also found local languages to be a form of protest against the galactic standardization of the Empire and picked up their words along with their practices.

(She’s picked up more than her share of curses, too.)

Cassian’s native language, however, is completely unfamiliar to her.

“What does that mean?” she asks when he slips into Festian after she passes him a blaster. They’re packing the U-wing for a scouting mission with Bodhi and K2, but the hangar is mostly empty this time of night. He flushes suspiciously under his collar before looking at her. “It means ‘thank you’”. 

“Oh,” she says, confused at his response. She’s even more confused when, a few minutes later, she repeats the words, thanking Bodhi for returning with dinner rations.

“Gracias miamor,” she says, stumbling over the unfamiliar words and turning in confusion as Cassian splutters beside her. “Did I say it wrong?” she asks, stubbornly determined to learn his language, when he shakes his head. Bodhi grins. “What was that?” he asks and she stares between them. Cassian, whom she has never seen this flustered before, stalks inside the U-wing away from them.

From behind the ramp, K2 stands and swivels golden eyes onto her. “Yes, you said it wrong,” K2 says reproachfully as a golden protocol droid wanders by. “That is correct, K2-SO,” the protocol droid says. “I am fluent in over six million forms of communication and – ”

Either out of loyalty to Cassian or pure annoyance at the golden droid, K2 swings an arm back, knocking it onto the hangar floor.

(After that, Jyn decides not to press the matter.)

+

She notices that he mostly slips into Festian when focused on another task, stray thoughts escaping in an old language. He’ll mumble to himself, from time to time, when finishing reports for Draven and writing out long explanations of half-sanctioned events. Once she heard him say something that sounded like _pendejo_ under his breath after a council meeting. He doesn’t talk in his sleep often, but when he does, she catches odd words – _cariño, informe, bayas, fuego, vida_ – though she still does not understand them.

(He says other things, too, in more heated moments, though in these moments her attention is focused elsewhere and she can never remember them after.)

“Will you teach me?” she asks one night, half-asleep as his fingers play lazy patterns on her back. His hand stills against her and he shifts, looking down at her. 

“Teach you what, mi amor?”

“That,” she answers sleepily. She has figured out by now that it is an endearment of some kind, one that he only uses when they are alone. “Your language.”

He is quiet for so long that she looks up to see whether he’s fallen asleep. 

“Why?” he asks and she spies old defenses lurking behind his eyes. Old habits die hard; she knows this better than most. She can guess at the reasons why. He doesn’t talk of Fest often.

“Because it’s important to you,” she says, pressing a kiss to his jaw. “And you’re important to me.”

His hands tighten around her, exposing his neck and granting her better access to the trail of his throat. “Then yes,” he says tightly and arches into her, eyes darkening as her hands slide around his waist. “I can teach you.”

It’s a start.

+

He starts out with a few simple words each day, words she can use – _astronave, los soldados, esperame, verdad_ – and then, slowly, builds them into sentences. She has a sharp ear and learns quickly, though less so than if she’d been using it to survive. When she’s on a solo mission, she practices with the Festian datapad she got from K2. The droid remains very begrudging about the whole affair.

“He speaks Common and you speak Common,” the droid had said when he had presented her with the datapad. “I do not understand how this facilitates your mating rituals.”

(Sometimes she seriously still wants to murder that droid.)

“You don’t need to understand,” she says calmly instead of shooting K2. “It’s not for you.”

“I suppose,” K2 says, starting to walk away from the entire situation, “it would avoid you calling Lieutenant Rook ‘my love’ again.”

(Seriously. Murder.)

“Hey Kay,” she says, smirking with mischief as she leaves, “no mames.”

And while she has inferred or guessed the meaning of Cassian’s names for her, she hasn’t asked him to explain them. They are his words, she has decided, special to him. In the middle of a crowded hangar or in the dark of space, he can call her _cariño_ or _mi amor_ and it is theirs, small and intimate. So few things are, and she cradles them, safe from the rebellion and the galaxy of problems they face.

A few weeks after she can pick out words when he’s talking to himself, she lands a mission off-world without him. When she looks back from climbing into the ship, she sees him standing a few feet away with a strange expression on his face.

“What is it?” she asks as the engines fire up. His mouth quirks and a smile overtakes his face.

“Te amo, Jyn,” he says, just loud enough so she can hear him over the noise of the ship, and she freezes. “What?” she asks, calling back as the hatch closes but he just smiles, shaking his head.

(She’ll have to wait on that too, apparently.)

+

The next mission they take is together, turning one of Jyn’s old smuggling buddies, Mack, into a supplier for the Rebellion. He’s late and she kills time haggling with the spaceport vendors and swapping stories, Cassian keeping a careful watch on the crowds. She senses his body stiffen a moment before Mack slides up next to her, pretending to examine the same engine part _she’s_ pretending to examine.

Casually but immediately, Cassian is at her side. He keeps his back to the vendor, splitting his attention between old and new targets. “There’s a bar near here where we can talk,” Mack says, eyeing Cassian. “Is he coming with us?”

(Casual, but not subtle.)

She considers for a moment but Cassian’s presence might scare off Mack. He can fall back if it makes the exchange go easier. Cassian shifts guardedly, arms crossed over his leather jacket, and she shakes her head. “No. Wait here a minute.” She motions Cassian to follow her down a short alley and explains the situation.

“Try not to stand out,” she says lightly, trying to defuse the tension in Cassian’s eyes. There is the spy, and then there is the rebel ready to spring. “Try not to start any fights,” he says back and she huffs, shoving her hands into her pockets to keep from touching him. It’s neither the time nor the place.

“I’ll do my best,” she answers, tapping her nose. “Just watch my back.” He frowns, looking back at the vendors. “Yeah,” he says. “See you after then?” She smiles, inspiration coming to her, and relaxes.

“I’ll comm if I need you,” she says. As she heads back, her shadow waiting to follow, she turns and walks backwards a few paces. “Te amo,” she adds with a confident smile, words she’s practiced on her own falling easily from her tongue, and hopes for the best.

His sudden, brilliant smile eases her through the rest of the mission.

(And she only gets in one fight.

It wasn’t her fault. Really.) 

_Finis_

**Author's Note:**

> Note: _"Gracias miamor"_ is not a typo so much as it is Jyn mis-repeating what she heard :) If I messed something else up in my edits, please do let me know. I'm just a little nervous about this one.
> 
> I am [ladytharen](http://ladytharen.tumblr.com) on Tumblr if you want to come say hi!


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